In hard times, nostalgic toys strike a chord

NEW YORK (AP) -- Counting dollars this holiday season, Tom DeSantes wants to avoid buying high-priced techno gadgets as giftsfor his two sons.

Instead, he is going to buy the boys, ages 6 and 7, a classicfrom his own childhood: Lincoln Logs.

"I loved them as a kid and used to build huge log cabins,"remembers De Santes, 38, who lives outside Boston in Scituate,Mass., and is a marketing director for an education softwarecompany. With Lincoln Logs, "I like that my boys and I can createsomething together."

Without a "must-have" toy fad this holiday season, and withparents facing a deteriorating economy, tried-and-true toys arebeing embraced by parents and toy makers alike -- what one analystcalls a "back to the toy box" approach.

"'Retro' or 'nostalgia' toys can be viewed as the 'comfortfood' of the toy industry and I do think folks naturally gravitateto what made them happy when they were young, or what is familiarto them," said Anita Frazier, a toy analyst at NPD Group, a marketresearch firm.

Ken Moe, general manager of Backtobasics.com, a Web site ownedby Scholastic Corp. that offers classic toys like "Rock 'Em, Sock'Em Robots," Slinky and Colorforms, said sales so far this seasonindicate a rising interest in old favorites.

Though most sales will occur over the next few weeks, Moe saidJunior TinkerToys, Lincoln Logs and toy instruments have been amongthe big sellers in the past few months.

"It's instinctive in tough times to reach back to a happier,simpler time," he said. "Parents remember how much they lovedthose toys, and want that same happiness for their children."

Lauren Horsley, who has 5- and 1-year old boys and a 3-year-oldgirl, plans to buy TinkerToys, a Cabbage Patch Kid doll and classicboard games Sorry! and Hungry Hungry Hippos this holiday season.The 29-year-old from Salt Lake City said she finds value in thetoys' quality and universal appeal.

"We just bought our first house this fall, and with the economyso unstable we need to be as conservative as possible to ensurethat we pay our bills," she said. "A lot of pricey, faddish toysaren't going to do our children much good if we don't keep a roofover their heads."

Parents aren't the only ones looking again at classic toys. Toymakers are also turning to the old standbys as they face not onlyweakening toy sales, but also steep prices for commodities likeresin used to make many toys and tough competition from electronicgadgets.

Holiday toy sales are often spurred by hit toys, with popularitydriving shortages, creating more demand -- as with the "Tickle MeElmo" craze of 1996 and the Nintendo Wii, which has run intoshortages since it was introduced in 2006.

This year, however, "not much is selling at all," says BMOCapital Markets analyst Gerrick Johnson. While he believes shoppingwill pick up as the holidays get closer, he expects total sales tobe down about 2 percent this year. Frazier expects toy sales thisyear -- about half of which come in the fourth quarter -- to be aboutflat this year at $22 billion.

Classic toys could fill the gap left by a lack of a "musthave" toy, as toy makers stick to past hits and avoid takingrisks, what Needham & Co. analyst Sean McGowan calls going "backto the toy box."

"Partly, its because they know 'this thing works,"' he says.

Hasbro Inc., for example, has found success revitalizing namessuch as the 40-year-old Nerf brand and Transformers, which firsthit the U.S. in the early '80s and are selling well again afterlast year's "Transformers" movie.

The company also debuted revamped versions of classic boardgames like Clue, Operation and Monopoly this year.

"One of our core tenets is to reinvent and reimagine a lot ofour core brands," says John Frascotti, Hasbro's global chief ofmarketing, who is 47. "There's an emotional resonance that comesfrom the quality of the experience people in my or our generationhad with the toys, and recognition that the same experience can nowshared with entire family and children."

Hasbro plans to continue to update old brands and has a G.I. Joerevival -- including toys related to a new live-action movie -- setfor 2009.

Jakks Pacific Inc. has brought back several classic brands thisyear, including a 25th-anniversary Cabbage Patch Kid doll that isthe replica of the original version and a new Smurfs plush toy andDVD.

"During these times parents want to remember something positiveto share with their family now more than ever," says Tom Delaney,senior vice president of marketing for Jakks' Play Along division.Classic toys "bring parents and grandparents back to theirchildhood memories of a simpler time," he said.

That's why Elizabeth Peterson, 39, from Redondo Beach, Calif.,bought an Easy-Bake Oven -- first introduced in the 1960s -- for theholidays. The mother of a 2 1/2-year-old boy and a 10-month old boyadmits she might be jumping the gun a bit, but couldn't resist.

"I never got one when I was little and all my friends hadone," she said. "I'm probably going to be the one playing withit."

She also bought two Nerf footballs, which she remembers playingwith as a child.

"I think they'll grow with them. People are maybe focusing on asmaller Christmas and buying one or two things that they known area sure bet."

With the football, she says, "It won't just make it through theweek of Christmas, they'll play with it for years to come."

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